Re: Driving trams

-Peter E,Thank you,PB.-- In TramsDownUnder@y..., "Peter D. Ehrlich"
<norcalrr@s...> wrote:

[This is also being sent to SFMuniHistory, as it applies there as

well.]

In a message dated 3 March 2002 @ 1803 PST, "IS Edit"
<bobmurphy2@c...> wrote:

I agree, Peter. Even I would like to do the occasional shift.

I've only driven

trams a few times in the last 10 years and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I never got bored driving them either. Too many variables. And

you can always

introduce some to add to the fun if boredom threatens.

Bob Murphy
----- Original Message -----
From: demondriver44

Murph,I agree with you about the discipline involved in driving
trams,I have never driven heavy buses or semis but would have put

in

well over 1,000,000 km driving other things and tram driving is a
very different discipline,mind you,quite a few trammies shouldn't

be

put in charge of a wheelbarrow and sometimes the most unlikely

ones

will give the smoothest and fastest ride.When I started my braking
was good but my acceleration was careless and rough,this was
corrected by Peter Winspur,early in the piece fortunately,after

that

I was a far better driver and connies would change shifts to work
with me,they knew they wouldn't be thrown all over the car and

they

would only take their fair share,the bag would not be too heavy.I

did

not run ahead though,just on the knocker.So many people have said

to

me that tram driving must be boring and so easy but it was never

so

for me and after 25 years I still sometimes miss it.I love the

feel

of the steel wheels turning on steel rail and all the variety of
sounds as you pass over railjoints and through special work,your
senses and your body learns all this stuff and it becomes

innate,it

never goes away.Peter E.you know what I'm talking about.Peter

Bruce.

Tram operation--especially of an air car--is truly an art form. I

learned

my craft from the master, a gentleman named Jack Smith, in 1982.

He learned

his craft from his father, who was one of the first black motormen

on the

private Market Street Railway. His first "job" at the age of 12 or

so was

to bring his dad lunch and ride with him. Since this was a night

shift, his

dad would say "Run the car" while he had his sandwich. The

passengers

didn't care or even notice.

It took me a while to master the nuances of the straight air

brake. Jack's

test was to take some champagne glasses, fill them with water, and

if you

did a smooth stop, none of the water would go over the side of the

glass.

If you did a "stonewall" stop, you'd be mopping up the floor!

I had a trainee recently who had trouble with his stops. He'd take

too much

air, release it all, and have to reapply, causing a hard stop. So

I said to

him, "How do you stop with an automobile?" He said "I let up on

the brake

pedal a little bit at the end of the stop." I said, "It's exactly

the same

principle here with a straight air car." He improved considerably

after

that.

And R.T., remember when you ran the Sacramento Northern Birney up

at Rio

Vista back in 1970 or so? You were a master then, too!

Milantram

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